VA Gov. Bob McDonnell: I’m not being vetted for veep

Erika JohnsenPosted at 4:21 pm on May 9, 2012

Virginia’s chief executive Bob McDonnell is a pretty darn popular governor who’s consistently led the purplish state to back-in-the-black budgets, and although he’s often typecast as being too “vanilla” to really help Mitt Romney round out the GOP ticket, his name has been much circulated as a potential running mate. But, he certainly isn’t the only subject of heavy veep-speculation, and McDonnell himself insists that he’s not currently being vetted by the Romney campaign.

The vice presidential speculation is “actually Romney’s fault,” McDonnell joked during a meeting with the Washington Examiner’s editorial board. He recalled that at a fundraiser last year, Romney mentioned him at a Virginia Beach fundraiser as a possible vice presidential choice along with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. “And my life’s been miserable ever since.”

McDonnell said he was not currently being vetted for the nomination and declined to say whether he’d agree to be vetted. “I’ll let you know if they ask me,” he said.

I’m wondering whether the nationally-noticed trouble over the ultrasound-bill controversy and his slightly-declining (but still pretty great) approval rating may have done anything to put a damper on Governor McDonnell’s chances with the Romney camp, since he has definitely expressed an active interest in the position. Governors in Virginia aren’t permitted consecutive terms, so he’ll be out of a job soon, and he isn’t looking to go into Congress (also from the Examiner):

But McDonnell said he has no interest in running for Senate…

“100 people that spend more time talking than acting, with an irresponsible filibuster rule, can’t pass the budget in three years,” McDonnell said.”Going from being governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson’s jobs to that club has very little appeal to me.”

“Plus I’ve talked to George Allen and Mark Warner,” he joked.

Meanwhile, in other news, BuzzFeed has a fun piece up about another oft-cited veep candidate, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). Although Sen. Portman has also been labeled as “boring,” being less-than-exciting on the stump doesn’t mean that he’s an uninteresting person. I mean, just look at the man’s chicken impression — I’ve never seen it’s equal!